Thursday, June 12, 2008

At least it's nice to feel needed

Today my Not so tech savvy mother called, in dire need of cell phone support. This being the same woman who will call repeatedly, yelling at my answering machine for me to pick up the phone and answer her. I have voice mail not a standard answering machine so therefore I can not hear her. Hours later my inbox is filled calls of her yelling. "JOHNINA!!!, pick up the phone!....WOOHOO where are you at? HELLO...Pick up...she's not answering, I don't know where she is", *Click*).Which she still doesn't get, even though I have tried to explain this to her many times. She is always calling for support in many areas. There are many evenings she will call at 9pm, unable to work her VCR. Now how long has the VCR been around? Point taken then. So, with her owning many new technological things one of which is the dreaded Internet service, I am kept pretty busy.I spent a solid hour this morning walking her over the phone the steps of removing a text message from her phone. She was in a shear panic over the fact that my sister in law had sent her a very unpleasant text message. In which her first reaction was slam it shut and throw the phone. (As if it jumped out and bit her, I mean really what did she think that would do?) Apparently it contained two naked men shown from the waist down holding towels off their manhood! ("Here grab a towel you will owe me!" including music) She was absolutely mortified and wanted it removed immediately!Gripping the whole time... "why would she send this?", "I can believe this?", "how am I gonna get this off!", "I don't see that button!!", "What?? Where??", "I just can't believe this!". There was No way she would leave it on the phone until I could see her and do it myself. "What if someone sees this?","You have to help me get this off!!" ,"What if I'm in a wreck and someone thinks this is mine?"!! Explaining things to my mom is like trying to teach a dog new tricks, she just doesn't get the simplest instructions! A solid hour it took me...no joke! Finally after beginning to sprout grey hairs, I was relieved to hear the sin had finally been removed and she could now function through the rest of her day! *blowing a sigh of relief* You know at least it's nice to feel needed!

20 comments:

  1. I love to read your blog. Most of your posts really hit home. My mom is technologically impaired also. Last time I sat down to show her how a computer works, she kept asking, "how do you know that you have to double click?" Ummm...you just do!

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  2. Oh man this is my mom to a T!! She came over the other day to have me help her search for some fabric on the net. She has a computer! But she only turns it on every 6 months or so and then tries to read EVERY email people send her. And my brother gave her a cell phone but she doesn't use it, because she doesn't know how!

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  3. Too funny, my mom is like that with computers and her camera. Oh my gosh I have showed her how to work her camera a hundred times and she can't seem to figure it out???? Will we be like that when we get older? I hope not!

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  4. Does your mom know mine?

    After mastering the VCR/DVD/Tivo (seriously, the woman can tape 2 Law and Orders and a Murder She Wrote at the same time on one t.v) - she just can't handle the simple voice recorder on the answering machine.

    Remember the old skit from Carol Burnett show with Tim Conway as the boss and Carol as Mrs. Huwiggins (sp?) as the gum snapping receptionist? He would call her on the intercom and she would start answering him before she finished his sentence. That's my momma!

    www.swirlgirlspearls.blogspot.com

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  5. Love the message: "HELLO...Pick up...she's not answering..." Sounds almost like when my kids leave a message. :-)

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  6. the entire older generation of my family is like that!! my father refuses to own a cell at all, my mom texts in slow motion, and my grandparents save up all their contacts for when i visit. when i show up at grama's, i'm handed the cell and the list of numbers. we NEVER leave them voicemails, they still don't know how to check them :)

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  7. That is too funny, to be honest I can identify with your Mom throwing the phone. I have that impulsive, hyper reaction to things that are shocking sometimes myself.

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  8. This is exactly what I go through with my mother-in-law. I help her with her dvd player until I'm blue in the face. G-d bless her she's about 82 but she does drive me crazy. If you notice Moe won't even deal with her with that stuff he doen't have any patience with her. Remember we will be there someday if our kids don't kill us first.

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  9. I totally get you on this one, my Mom drives me nuts. I've shown her about a dozen times how to send an email...does she get it....still not....I have even handwritten and emailed her step by step by step instructions that even my 7 year old can follow, she called me yesterday again for help!!
    Really enjoy reading your blog.
    Not so Normal Mom.

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  10. That's too funny...and why would your SIL send that to her? Hmmm.

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  11. I love my mom, she knows all of this stuff.

    My MIL on the other hand, who is only about 4 years older, can't handle any of it. She refuses to get a new cell phone because she doesn't want 'all that stuff on it.' You know the Jitterbug cell phone that's just a phone? I told her about it and she acted like I'd just given her the secret to eternal youth. She prefers her typewriter to the new computer she just bought because she 'can't figure it out' and 'the typewriter is easier'. Oy!

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  12. I think you SIL was playing a prank on you. : )

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  13. ha ha ha hee hee ho - that is my SIL!! Drives me insane! Slap me upside the head when I do this!!

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  14. This post is too funny. I don't know how I would survive in this world of technology if I wasn't married to a computer god. He runs the IT department at work and at our house.

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  15. My mom does the exact same thing to our voice mail. "Hello? Are you home? Hello? I'll wait just in case you're in the bathroom... Hellooo?!"

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  16. Is it bad that I'm laughing? I work in a Tech Support Center...I know how you feel. Some people just were not meant to interface with anything technological. Period.

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  17. Oh, that was too funny!! Reminds me of my mom. I'll never forget the day she called me at work wanting to know how to turn off the computer. I just told her to slowly back away from it and I'd do it when I got home. Now the woman is a Google queen. She Googles everything.

    I do love her message on her voice mail at her home. She starts off with "Hello..." But it sounds like she's really answered the phone. Then she says her message about not being home, yadda, yadda. Then she says "Ok, press stop!" OH, I love it! Sometimes when I need a good pick me up, I'll call her house when I know she's not home just to hear her message. It cracks me up every time.

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  18. HaHaHa
    My Grandmother called and left a message on my answering machine last week and at th end of her message she saide "Love Gram"... like she was signing a card or note or something....HaHaHa

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  19. My MIL won't even ATTEMPT to learn how to work her cell or her computer. So everytime she wants to plan a trip, or buy something online, my DH has to do it. Drives me bonkers! At least TRY to learn how to use it, instead of just batting your eyelashes and saying you're too dumb to figure it out! Try, woman! Try!

    Love the blog though!

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  20. My grandpa does the same thing with my cell phone's voice mail. He says my name, pause, my name again, pause, then lets me know its him and to call him back. I guess he thinks its like a old fashion answering machine. So, funny!

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Girls could you PLEASE give our guest some space. Take your brother and go play. Sorry,it's hectic here, what were you saying?"...

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